After returning to club action following the final international break of 2025, Liverpool needed to find a remedy for their issues.
A defeat to Manchester City two weeks ago is hardly something to be ashamed about, but after consecutive wins across league and European action, it was a return to the doldrums of the previous month.
In truth, Arne Slot’s men have been way off it in 2025/26. The Anfield outfit are severely lagging behind in the race for the Premier League title and they can probably already forget about any hopes of retaining England’s biggest prize, but for a major miracle.
The nadir of the campaign so far came on Saturday. Nottingham Forest, sat inside the relegation places, visited Mersyeside and swatted aside Slot’s troops with ease, winning 3-0.
It was a ghastly defeat and one that was epitomised by the performance of club-record signing Alexander Isak.
The issues behind Alexander Isak
2025 has been a peculiar old year for Mr Isak. He began the year in career-best form and took Newcastle United to a Carabao Cup triumph at Wembley against his new employers.
Yet, he ruined his legacy. He chewed it up and spat it back in the faces of Newcastle supporters.
He didn’t go on the club’s pre-season tour in Asia and from that moment he was never seen in first-team training again.
Isak trained on his own at Newcastle’s complex and then after missing the opening weeks of the season, finally got his British record move to Liverpool. FSG shelled out a jaw-dropping £125m to sign him but he has not been worth that fee in the slightest.
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The Swede has struggled with fitness and injury since moving, hardly surprising given he didn’t have a proper pre-season. That, however, is the player’s fault and he’s now paying the price.
The striker has now played nine games for his new side but has only scored once, a solitary goal in the EFL Cup.
He’s gone five Premier League matches without scoring and all four of his Liverpool starts in top-flight action have ended in defeat.
His performance against Forest on Saturday was the epitome of what he’s gone through on Merseyside to date.
As Slot’s side lost 3-0, Isak was nowhere to be seen. BBC Sport’s Phil McNulty described his afternoon as a “symbol of one of the most limp Anfield displays in recent years.”
As a consequence, the attacker only lasted 68 minutes on the pitch, amassing just 14 touches of the football and winning zero of his duels.
Minutes played
68
Touches
14
Accurate passes
5/7 (71%)
Key passes
1
Successful dribbles
0
Shots
1
Shots on target
0
Ground duels won
0
Aerial duels won
0
Before this game had even taken place Liverpool correspondent David Lynch had suggested the Swede was “offering Liverpool less than Darwin Nunez did”. Still, while Nunez never really got up to speed, there is a belief that Isak will eventually come good.
The same cannot be said for someone who plays further back than Isak.
Liverpool star is becoming this season's Darwin Nunez
What a puzzling character Mr Nunez was. The Uruguayan arrived in a £85m move from Benfica back in June 2022 but failed to ever really set the world alight.
He missed a catalogue of big chances. In January 2024, he set a Premier League record when he hit the woodwork four times in one game against Chelsea. No one has ever hit the bar or post on as many occasions in one match as that.
Furthermore, back in 2023/24, only Erling Haaland (34) missed more big chances than Nunez (27) in the top-flight. The trouble is, while the Norwegian powerhouse scored 27 that term, Liverpool’s leading number nine only found the net on 11 occasions in league action.
Then, last season, the South American netted just seven goals in 47 fixtures, prompting his exit from English football. He has since moved to Saudi Arabia and Al-Hilal, where he has netted five times in nine appearances.
Isak will likely have a better Anfield career than that, but he is arguably not the main scapegoat right now. That honour is in the hands of Ibrahima Konate.
The Frenchman, as Nunez did, has become the but of the jokes at Anfield this term and is the most under-fire player in Slot’s squad.
Yes, Florian Wirtz and Isak continue to disappoint, a huge problem given their price tags, but Konate has had one too many chances now and his Liverpool career is heading in a similar way to a certain Trent Alexander-Arnold.
His contract is due to expire at the end of the season and with Real Madrid allegedly chasing his services, it looks like the best option for all parties that he leaves on a free transfer.
Liverpool would love a fee, of course they would, but they just need to get him off their books now. He’s simply too error-prone. It’s not just one error either, something football analyst Raj Chohan outlined on social media during Saturday’s game.
Having made a dreadful mistake, beaten all ends up by Forest striker Igor Jesus, the Frenchman was extremely thankful that the goal that followed that sequence of events was ruled out for handball.
Writing afterwards, Chohan simply said, “every time he makes one error, he makes multiple.”
Tactical writer Dharnish Iqbal, further noted that Konate’s form at the moment is “shocking”, outlining him as one of the biggest problems at Slot’s disposal right now.
According to the official data, supplied by Sofascore, he has made three mistakes leading to a shot in league action alone this term. In the Champions League, he has made a further one. This is particularly bad as in the whole of the 2024/25 Premier League season, he made two. He’s already up to that number now from 12 starts.
He might not be like Nunez in the sense that he’s a striker, but he’s the new club scapegoat, and like Nunez, he needs to leave as soon as possible.
Worse than Konate: Slot must drop 2/10 Liverpool flop who lost 100% duels
Ibrahima Konate was not the only culprit during Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest.
2 ByMatt Dawson